ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have challenged their conviction in the £190 million case in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
An accountability court in Islamabad convicted the former prime minister and the former first lady in the £190 million case in a much-anticipated ruling earlier this month.
In a major blow to the already incarcerated politician, Accountability Judge Nasir Javed Rana handed down a 14-year sentence to the PTI founder and a seven-year sentence to his wife, while also slapping heavy fines on them.
The case, also known as Al-Qadir Trust case, involved allegations that Imran and some others in 2019 adjusted Rs50 billion — amounting to £190 million at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government during his tenure as the country’s prime minister.
The former ruling party strongly rejected the verdict that came after multiple delay over weeks, announcing to reach out to superior courts against it.
The petition, filed via Salman Akram Raja and Barrister Salman Safdar, focused on arguments and evidence refuting the claims presented by the prosecution in the notorious graft case.
It said that the conviction of Khan and his spouse was a result of political victimisation “orchestrated by opponents using NAB as a tool”, while the former premier already faced “280 politically motivated cases”, many of which ended in acquittals.
The plea contended that the trial court misread the evidence and failed to consider critical facts, rendering the conviction unsafe.
Referring to a Supreme Court ruling in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendments case, according to which the anti-graft watchdog cannot try cases involving allegations of corruption and monetary gain by public officeholders unless the prosecution presents evidence of such material gain, the plea contended that filing of the reference by NAB was beyond its jurisdiction.
